


Lana On The Case

by Gardian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 1940s lesbian detective au, F/F, F/M, Hurt Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-26 14:15:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16683178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gardian/pseuds/Gardian
Summary: Now that Lana is back from the war she finds plenty of mysteries waiting in her little village. And plenty of murders to be solved.





	1. Chapter 1

The year is 1949 and the war has been won and over for little more than a year now.  
Lana McClain has spent much of the past five years away from her home village in the countryside working in the big city despite the protests of her mother and her warnings of bombs.  
But still she toughed it out and did her part for the war effort, something that now that she was returning home left her quite bored and longing for something new.  
Perhaps that was why she was dreading returning home so much?  
A small village in the north of England with a population of only 200 people spread out across the many corn and wheat fields that surrounded the hand full of buildings and shops.  
There was only one rail way station manned only by an older gentleman that even during rationing always seemed to have a lolly pop ready to offer to a hungry evacuated child.  
This is where Lana currently sat, half melted into the old wooden bench fanning herself with a train schedule and doing her very best to keep as much distance between the sweltering men that she was unfortunately stuck between.  
Despite it still only being early spring the weather had been gradually growing hotter by the day until it reached its peak on today of all days when Lana had to wait around in the boiling sun for her best friend to come pick her up on her way home from work.  
The man to her left, a slim fellow with dark hair and a full beard that must have been making him all the hotter, he had long since discarded his suit jacket, leaving it over the top of his luggage.  
His face was bright red and looked to be suffering from the heat, Lana was about to offer him the use of her makeshift fan when with shaking hands he produced a bottle of water which he quickly opened and removed the plastic film over the top. After looking round for a moment and clearly deciding the effort to get up and place the film in the closest bin he instead tucked inside the bottle cap and took a long drink.  
“Mind sharing?” The man to Lana’s right questioned holding his hand out expectantly and was wordlessly handed the water with only a nod of approval.  
“Cheers” he muttered taking a small swig before handing it to Lana “here lass ya only a wee thing drink up while ya can” His scottish accent was almost as thick as the stench of cigarettes coming off his well tailored clothes.  
Lana smiled subtle wiping at the rim before she troo took a drink and then handed it back to the poor man it actually belonged to “Thanks.”  
Again the man only nodded holding the little water left closely as he replaced the lid and swirled the liquid round impatiently.  
Lana couldn’t blame him for such an attitude, after all they had been sitting in an awkward silence for the last twenty minutes now with no sign of relief to their situation.  
Pulling at the high collar of her dress Lana longed for the clouds and rain that she had cursed only a week prior, now that she had to wear essentially her sunday best she would have been grateful for even a drop of rain.  
The old conductor wiped the sweat off his brow as he leaned heavily against the moss covered wall of the ticket booth.  
Lana couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, afterwall she was just waiting to be picked up, while the poor man was likely stuck here until late in the evening.  
Just looking at him Lana noted that he was a single gentleman living alone likely in the small house just visible across the other side of the tracks.  
How she knew this?  
Well lets just say Lana was very good at noticing things others tended to miss out of ignorance or lack of interest. Either way she only needed to note the faded stain on his lapel and the dried mud on the hem of his trousers to come to her conclusion.  
“Don’t suppose i could trouble you for a drink sonny?” The old man asked smiling at the gentleman with the water.  
For a moment the man held the bottle close to his chest like he wanted to savour the last drink for himself, then his eyes seemed to linger on the old man for a few moments before he let out a sigh and handed it over.  
What happened next was quite strange for you see the old man died.  
One second he was happily drinking the water and the next he was convulsing on the ground with foam coming out of his mouth.  
Of course they called the police right away, or well the Scottish man did while Lana attempted to keep the fat man from hyperventilating.  
Funny things about calling the police about a sudden and mysterious death, they come much faster than any taxi or friend you have coming to pick you up.  
The car pulled up shortly and Detective Coran stepped out and gave the body a quick once over.  
“Ah it would appear old Charlie here’s dead.”  
“Yeah that’s kinda why we called you” Lana sighed smiling at the detective. As a child she had quite a few run ins with the police and not all of them good, but over the years she and Coran had developed an odd sort of friendship.  
Coran pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe away some of the foma that had formed at the victim’s mouth. After giving it a quick sniff he stood up with a sigh “it would appear this poor fellow has been poisoned.”  
“Poisoned?” The Scottish man asked in alarm “Fecken hell how’d he manage that?”  
“Thats what im here to find out now.. What was it i was about to ask?” Coran asked frowning slightly.  
“You were about to ask us if we saw anything suspicious” Lana supplied for him “and we would say that everything seemed perfectly normal right up until he collapsed.”  
Coran nodded jotting it all down on his little notebook.  
The fat man nodded along with what Lana was saying “it’s like she says officer nothing out of the ordinary happened”.  
He sounded strange, almost like his voice was being forced and lana had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t to do with the current trauma.  
“Did you see him eat or drink anything? Anything that could have been laced with poison?” Coran asked not seeming to pick up on the oddness of the man.  
“Ah nothing that the three of us didn’t also have a swig of” The scottish man shrugged “look can’t we deal with this in yer office or something? Im roasting out here and this poor git looks like he’s about to keel over.”  
Coran nodded “yes i’m sure you all want to get away from the body soon as possible, i’ve already sent for a car to come collect us all shortly.”  
“If it’s all the same to you Coran i wouldn’t mind having a look at the body… to erm see if it jogs any memories that may be of use to your investigation of course.” Lana took the dismissive wave as permission and began to poke at the body.  
There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about old Charlie, he was just a kindly man that worked hard and liked to give sweets to the poor evacuees. Who could ever have a motive for wanting to kill him?  
Had it been suicide and they simply didn’t see him take anything… well then if that was the case surely he would still have whatever he used on his person.  
Feeling around his pockets Lana was disappointed to only find his house keys, a pocket watch as a few lollipops.  
She was about to replace the contents when she noticed something rather odd about the wrapping of one of the sweets.  
Usually the plastic is melted and twisted to seal it, but they, though melted, seemed to be pushed straight down almost as if they were resealed.  
Curious Lana removed the wrapper and gave it a taste lick.  
She recognized the taste almost instantly, enough sleepless nights of nightmares and terrors that lurched in the dark made her quite accustomed with the taste of sleeping pills.  
The only question was why on earth is it in the sweets Charlie gave to the children?  
“Is this gonna take long? I got my wife and kid waiting for me at home.”  
And just like that all the pieces slotted into place.  
Lana straightened up and walked over to the fat man smiled at him before promptly kicking him between the legs.  
He let out a pained yelp followed by a string of curse words in a very thick scottish accent.  
“Detective Coran i do believe i have your murdures” She gestured to the two men who looked up at her with such dissbelief you would think she suggested they were unicorn spies.  
“That’s a very serious allegation miss McLain, i hope you have proof.” Corans mustache frowned.  
“Ah but i do.” She bent down and with a flourish held the dropped water bottle in front of coran “behold the poison.”  
“Unless your forgetting lassy we all drank out of that.” The scottish man snarled.  
“See i thought that too, if we all drank it then there is no way he should have died and we didn’t. Then i realised something, the poison was introduced after we all drank.” the men’s eyes widened as she carefully peeled the film from the inside of the bottle cap. “Quite clever really, coat the outside of the film in poison then make sure your seen drinking from it, then all you need to do is place it with the outside facing inwards in the bottle cap shake the water about a bit and boom you have a murder weapon.” Lana replaced the lid and handed it to Coran “I’m sure your guys at the lab will find both their fingerprints on that film.”  
“Both?” Coran asked taking the bottle in surprise.  
“Of course, the two of them planned it after all. At first it seems like the two of you have nothing in common, even both being scottish doesnt really link you with more than a home land. But then i started thinking about the fact that i have no idea who either of you are. No one comes to this village and everyone knows everyone but not you too. How would you even know about this place? That’s when it hit me, your both married with children, children that were evacuated here during the war.”  
The fat man began to cry while the other just stared her down.  
“But why would they want to kill nice old Charlie here?” Coran asked scratching his head.  
Lanas smile dropped as she handed over the lollipop “because Charlie wasn’t so nice… he gave out sweets laced with sleeping pills to the evacuees, kids that no one really wanted or had time for, im sure youll find evidence of all sorts of awful things when you search his house.” her gaze shifted to the men “he hurt your kids didn’t he? I understand why you did it but… why not just tell the police and have him arrested?”  
“We tried to” the fat man sobbed.  
“Shut up Mark” the other man hissed elbowing him in the ribs but still he continued.  
“My boy was only nine but he knew it was wrong and he marched over to the station soon as he could to tell someone, they laughed in his face and told him that he shouldn’t make up such stories.” Marks voice grew steadily quieter “he didn’t tell anyone again until he came home… i only found out because i found the letters he was sending to another boy that the bastard hurt… Bens boy”  
“My son… he was 12 when it happened… god it would have been his birthday today if… if he had… “ Ben choked on his words.  
“The police were useless once so we had to make sure he paid for what he did.” Mark whispered.  
Lana kneeled down in front of them “im so sorry… but murder even when justified is still murder… Coran will have to take you to the station and its likely you will be hanged for this.”  
Suddenly Ben surged forwards and grabbed Lana by the throat and produced a small knife from his pocket.  
Coran had his army issued gun out in an instant.  
“No, stop!” Corna yelled as the knife dug into Lanas neck drawing a thin line of blood.  
“No one was supposed to know! I was supposed to be going home to ma family tonight but you ruined it!”  
His body holding her tight, his breath on her neck and the familiar sensation of pain was all too much for her “While i do have sympathy for you and i believe all monsters like Charlie should be whipped off the face of the Earth” in one fluid motion she elbowed him in the gut and swept her leg under his knocking him to the floor and the knife of his grasp. “No one gets to touch me like that but Hannah.”  
Ben tried to get up but Coran pointed his gun at him “don’t even try it son.”  
He visibly deflated as he lay on the ground watching the sky “it was supposed to be the perfect kill… but you had to ruin it.”  
Lana ignored him in favour of greeting the cars that pulled up, one belonging to the very woman she had missed more than life itself.  
Hannah came barreling towards her picking her up in a hug and sobbing “They said someone died! Oh Lana i was so scared something had happened to you!”  
Lana chuckled hugging her best friend back “Dont worry im fine… im fine now i’m home.”


	2. Chapter 2

On the best of occasions, Lana gets maybe three hours sleep a night.

During the war she worked all hours of the night and then on her off time nightmares would keep her up and thinking.

One reason she was so keen to come home was that the last place she remembered getting a good night’s sleep was when she shared a bed with her best friend Hannah.

Unfortunately, after the incident at the train station, Lana had become a kind of local celebrity.

Not even an hour after getting home to the little cottage her and Hannah had bought together a few years before the war, the local paper came poking around asking for an exclusive.

It only got worse from there.

By time Lana went out to grab the milk, the front door was swarmed with journalists all shouting her name and demanding how she knew who had done the crime.

This carried on for a week, the papers always buzzing in the background to the point where Lana decided to cut her losses and just hide in bed all day.

Then as suddenly as they started they stopped. All thanks to the chief of police leaving town in the middle of the night supposedly to run off with a mistress.

He was known to have a weakness for any pretty little thing in a skirt after all.

“Morning” Hannah greeted as Lana descended the stairs pleasantly surprised to see her already cooking breakfast.

“Hannah, have I ever declared my undying love for you?” Lana smiled as she draped her arms over her friend’s shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

Hannah chuckled “at least three times a day, four on Sundays when I bake a pie.”

“Well I mean it ever time.” she grabbed a freshly baked muffin and happily took a bite. Though she had escaped the worst of the rationing the times had still been tough on her and Lana had lost what little weight she had clung to over the years.

Even Hannah who had always been cutely plump had slimmed down leaving her more toned than anything.

Hannah hummed softly in response as she glanced at the clock. As a land girl, she often had to get out of the house in the early hours of the morning, but today was one of her few days off so she had been able to sleep into the late hour of 8am.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

It took Lana longer then she would like to admit to realise what she was getting at. Today was the day she promised to drop in on her elderly aunt and her longtime spinster friend who lived just outside of the village.

Last year her aunt had a nasty fall and since then she hasn’t been as independent as she had been for as long as Lana has known her.

So as requested by her mother, Lana was starting today supposed to drop in with some food every week or so.

And she was already late.

“Oh shit your right!” Lana yelled as she ran out the door only pausing long enough to grab her hat and coat.

Hannah chuckled fondly before she glanced at the clock “almost time for work.”

Lana always loved her aunt’s house.

It was an old servants cottage on the edge of the Altea family estate that had been taken over a few decades ago by the two spinsters.

The area had been crudely walled off by large mismatched stones pulled from the river that ran by the back of the cottage, acting as a way to protect the garden of wildflowers and vegetables from the local wildlife.

The cottage itself was a lovely off-white with a soft violet door and flower-filled creepers growing up the wall.

When she was younger, Lana spent many a summer playing here, searching for magical secrets in the meadow and river long into the evening.

It had seemed so big back then.

So wondrous and pure.

Now it was filled with weeds and peeling paint, the fantasy of her childhood shattered the instant she stepped over the rusted gate and knocked on the door.

The door opened to a dark skinned woman with her afro tied back by a red bandana that matched the shirt she wore under her overalls. “Lana dear!” she pulled her into a hug before Lana could even think to say hello to her aunt’s friend a woman that had long ago dubbed herself as Lana’s aunt Red.

“Oh it’s so good to see you, let me get a good look at you” Red stepped away from taking her chin gently to turn her face side to side “my you look more like your mother every year. Bit on the scrawny side though, have to fatten you up a bit my dear.”

Lana chuckled as she pulled away, some things never changed. Red was a passionate and loving woman that once she decided she liked you she would go to the ends of the earth to keep you safe and happy. It also meant that if Lana so much as sniffled in front of her she would be hounded with love and attention until it’s impossible to be happier.

“It’s been a long time, how’s aunt Blue?”

Red put a hand around her shoulders and led her inside “she says she’s fine but I have to take anything that women says with a grain of salt. You know only last night I saw her trying to clean the kitchen ceiling with a mop. Sharp as an arrow but with too much energy to know what to do with.”

“You talking about me again?” Lana looked to the little living room where her aunt Blue sat in an armchair with a book resting on her lap.

Like Lana, she had long brown hair and tanned skin covered in freckles. The family blue eyes shined with amusement as she opened up her arms upon seeing her niece.

Lana ran over and hugged her smiling as she felt a hand stroking her hair.

“Oh, it has been far too long, six years without my favourite niece.”

“I’m your only niece”

Lana chuckled shaking her head as Blue huffed “that’s beside the point. Now tell me absolutely everything while my lovely Rose makes us some tea.”

Red stuck out her tongue “ I only get such flattery when you want something.”

“I always flatter you though.”

Red turned to leave “exactly” she added before slipping out the room.

“So what exactly have you been doing all this time?”

There are some things that Lana wants to forget.

What she did during the war was one of them, as to her there is no other line of work that leaves you watching as someone you have fallen in love with is dragged away in the middle of the night while you watch.

Officially Lana worked in a radio company, outside of that she wasn’t allowed to say even if she did want to talk about it.

Lana smiled as she shrugged as casually as she could “nothing particularly interesting, I went to London to try and become a mystery writer and then i got a job in a factory during the war and was honestly bored out of my mind away from the city.”

Blue studied her for a moment “you would think someone as intuitive as you would be able to tell a half decent lie.” she smiled softly patting her on the hand “I understand if you can’t tell me everything or if you simply don’t want to. But the best part of a family is that if you ever need to get something off your chest I’m here for it.”

Lana couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as she hugged Blue “thank you.”

“No problem my kitten, now be a dear and go see what’s taking my lovely Rose so long.”

She nodded and quickly went to the kitchen where she found the kettle cold and Red speaking in hushed tones into the telephone.

Red let out a long sigh as she hung up and jumped upon seeing Lana there “oh I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Who was on the phone?”  
Red rubbed the back of her neck clearly weighing up if she should tell her or not, ultimately she decided on the former. “Detective Coran needs to borrow the wagon, apparently some kids accidentally dug up a body in one of the back fields just up the road from here.”

“I’ll take it to him,” Lana said before she could consider if that was such a good idea.

“Are you sure? You’re not exactly dressed for running through the fields” Red nodded down at her delicate blue shoes.

“Don’t worry, I’m just taking him the cart. It’s not like I’ll be getting all that close.”

Lana climbed over the gate as soon as she saw the police tape covering the surrounding fence.

She left the cart and little donkey Bib on the side of the road so she could get a closer look at all the bustle.

There were only three police officers surrounding the area. They all held shovels and had dirt covering their uniforms. As Lana slowly tripped through the mud she spotted another officer actually in the makeshift grave.

She recognised the mullet immediately.

“Keith!” She yelled then promptly fell over face first into the mud.

There were laughs of course, but Coran quickly silenced them as he helped the girl up offering his handkerchief knowing it likely wouldn’t do much.

Lana still took it and wiped most of it off her face at least.

“Lana my girl what are you doing here? Are you alright?”

“Red said you needed a cart, I was visiting and figured I would save her a trip,” Lana explained watching as Keith climbed out of the grave and approached.

Coran twirled his moustache “Well I appreciate your assistance, someday we will really need to get a new car. Old girl can’t even get up the hill anymore.”

“No problem. “ Lana leaned around him as to try and get a look “so any idea what happened?”

“Nothing that is currently public information,” Keith answered crossing his arms.

Lana pouted “oh come on mullet I was just asking questions. You know I’m not from the paper.”

“And who are you?” Keith asked seeming genuinely confused for a moment.

“Your kidding right? It’s me, Lana, we went to school together.”

Keith shook his head “sorry don’t remember you.”

“How don’t you remember me?! We traded lunch every day!”

“Buck teeth!” Keith yelled pointing at her the pieces finally slotting into place.

Lana quickly covered her mouth with a scowl “ I told you I would grow into them jerk!” she huffed and was about to let him have it.

Unfortunately, Coran seemed to sense her fury and stepped between the two “I’m afraid there’s nothing interesting going on here Lana, it looks like a homeless man died during the winter and he accidentally got buried during the ploughing.”

Lana frowned “then what’s that?” she asked pointing to the red substance clinging to the bottom of Keith’s pants “if this was an accident then I doubt there would be blood mixed in with the dirt.”

The two men looked down so fast they almost butted heads. Lana took her chance and stepped around them to the body.

It didn’t look that old, barley rotted despite the damp earth its been buried in suggesting it couldn’t have been more than a month or so since the death.

A quick glance at the shoes told Lana that this man certainly wasn’t homeless unless Italian leather shoes suddenly became worthless.

After a quick look around Lana nudged the body slightly causing his head to move enough to see the face.

The first thing Lana noticed was the bloody dent in the man’s forehead. The second thing was that this was her old headmaster.

“Is that who I think it is?”

Lana jumped at Keith’s voice, she was able to quickly compose herself again, well as well as a person covered in mud could.

“Seems so. It also looks like this wasn’t an accident if the blunt force trauma is anything to go off. You’ll have to give it a closer look but my guess its a wrench or a shovel used, something that wouldn’t be out of place in someone’s hand outhere.”

Keith grunted in response “This is going to make things a little more complicated.”

“What a little old murder too much for the great Keith Kogane?” Lana teased noting the lack of a coat on the man, he was likely killed during the winter so he must have been killed inside somewhere nearby.

There were only a few houses in the area, most being on the Altea estate like Blue and Reds cottage, but there were also a few abandoned barns that were all but falling apart.

While it’s unlikely he would have been in a barn it’s not impossible.

“Everyone thought he’d ran off with some young totty, I even saw his bag being loaded on the train a couple months ago,” Keith muttered to himself.

“So he was planning to get out of town but never managed it? What could have scared him so much to just pack up and leave?”

“While that is an excellent quest miss McClain, I’m afraid since this is a murder investigation you will have to leave. I’ll be sure to have the cart returned once we take the body to the morgue.” Coran seems to know that she wouldn’t have left willingly on her own so looked to Keith “would you mind escorting her home?”

“I think I would be of more help here” Keith frowned crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Good thing it isn’t your job to think, its to take orders and do the grunt work until your off probation.” Coran chirped as she gave the two a gentle yet firm push towards the gate.

The walk back was awkward.

Neither of the two were particularly willing to start a conversation to break the awful silence. Lana had begun to shiver, now that the adrenaline had worn out she realised just how cold she was. Having the front of your dress soaked tends to do that.

“Here” Keith grumbled as he draped his jacket over her shoulders.

“Thanks” Lana muttered in surprise.

“Don’t worry about it, just wash it before you give it back.”

Lana nodded wrapping the light grey material around herself appreciating the residual heat it carried from Keith’s body. By the time they got to Hannah’s house, she had warmed up considerably.

“Look, I get that you’re riding this fame thing from guessing what happened at the train station but you can’t poke around a police investigation. This isn’t some game.”

“I thought you said you didn’t recognise me?” Lana poked him in the chest before she opened the door “and don’t worry, I have no intention of getting caught up in a murder.”

Lana managed to stay out of it for exactly as long as it took her to have a bath and change into clean clothes.

She figured that even if she couldn’t poke around the grave site she could still go and pay Mrs Iverson a visit, as a well-meaning member of the community visiting a lonely old woman. It really wasn’t that different to what she did with Red and Blue this morning.

Unfortunately, when Lana arrived at the house she found the police already there she was forced to return home and flop over Hannah on the couch with a frustrated groan.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah chuckled as she petted the other girl’s hair.

“I’m bored! I want a challenge, Hannah, I don’t want to just sit around all day doing nothing I’ll go mad.”

“Why not try to get a job then? I’m sure the school would be more than happy to have the help”

“The school!” Lana bolted up onto her feet “oh you wonderful genius you!” Lana grinned as she kissed Hannah on her head and ran out of the door not slowing down until she reached the school.

Considering it was a supposed to be a safe place to leave your kids it was worrying easy to break in. All Lana had to do was walk inside and grab a stack of papers off an unoccupied desk and no one gave her a second glance.

She made her way to Iverson’s office and upon finding it locked pulled a pin from her hair and got to work.

When Lana was a kid she learnt how to pick locks because her brothers used to think it was funny to lock her out during dinner. It was a matter of life without desert that motivated her.

The door clicked open and she slipped inside.

Lana was hit by a wave of nostalgia looking around the room. She spent plenty of time sitting in this office when she was younger, usually because she picked fights and cut class.

All but one draw was unlocked, Lana smiled to herself as she opened it, after all, you didn’t lock a draw unless there was something fun in there.

She wasn’t sure exactly what she was expecting to find. Nude photos of many women taken through a window was definitely not it.

There was a thick stack, some old and some worryingly new. Some were of younger girls, who couldn’t have been over 18. She felt an unimaginable rage when she found Hannah multiple times in the stack.

Some she was in her lacy yellow underwear that Lana had sent her last Christmas, some she was wearing nothing at all. Worst of all there were hearts drawn on the photos like Hannah was his sweetheart.

Perhaps one of the women had found out and took action into her own hands? Or maybe he tried to take the next step in his stalking and his death was in self-defence.

Either way, Lana didn’t care so much about justice anymore. She suddenly just wanted to go home and make sure Hannah is ok and Iverson never hurt her.

Looking outside Lana realized just how late it had gotten, she turned to leave when a folded letter caught her eye.

Shock nearly knocked her off her feet when she read it.

‘Hey handsome, I’ve seen you watching me if you want more meet me in the old Miller barn at midnight. I’ll be waiting in the tight little dress I know you like.’

It wasn’t the words that really surprised her. It was the handwriting, she recognized it.

It was-

Lana shook her head as she placed them inside her pocket.

No, she was mistaken. She had been gone for years and for all she knew it was someone else.

She sighed glancing out into the dark hallway. It was well past closing time for most places now, even the police station would be all but abandoned.

Lana bit her lip, she could always stop by Coran’s house and tell him what she found, but without a good reason to have just stumbled across the evidence, it could look like she had planted it to avoid her own guilt.

“What to do, what to do” she muttered to herself pacing the room. Her thoughts returned to the photos of Hannah, she was probably worried sick about her by now.

She did want to forget about all this as just go home but she also knew unless she solved this then there would be no justice.

Not for Iverson, she didn’t care about that pervert.

But for the women that he did this to, they may have been suffering for years in silence believing themselves to be the only one, too afraid to come forward for fear of what others would say.

Lana didn’t realise she was shaking until she caught sight of her unusually pale reflection in the window.

This wasn’t just about the women, this was about Lana as well. This was about leaving no mystery unsolved and living with the consequences that brings.

With her mind made up, Lana began to head towards the exit so she could pay Coran a visit. However, as she walked she became aware of another set of footsteps.

She kept her pace even as to not alert them that she realised she was being followed but she did take an odd route just to be sure it wasn’t her mind playing a trick on her.

Finding the sound continued no matter where she went Lana knew she was in trouble after all the footsteps were loud and heavy. Whoever this was, saw no reason to hide, this could mean one of two things, they were no threat and were simply wondering why she was in the school so late, or they were confident that no matter what happened they would be able to catch her should she run or try to fight.

Lana swallowed the nervousness as she turned the corner and flattened her back against the wall. Digging through her pockets for any kind of weapon the only this she had was her house keys, but slotted between her fingers was better than punching without.

She listened as the footsteps drew closer and closer until she was sure they were right next to her.

Then silence.

She counted to ten before slowly poking her head around the wall hoping to find a little old caretaker.

What she found instead filled her with dread.

Large heavy boots sat in the middle of the hallway, abandoned by their owner as to go unheard.

Lana was ready to run when she was grabbed from behind by big strong arms.

She tried to fight but a rag was forced over her mouth and nose before she could fight back the chloroform was already taking effect and she fell into unconsciousness.

Lana woke up to a pounding headache.

She slowly became aware of her surroundings, most notably the fact that she was tied up and being suspended by her wrists from the ceiling.

“You always were so clever Lana, its part of the reason I fell in love with you.” Hannah stepped forward holding a candle to light the room.

“What… what’s going on?” Lana felt like her mouth had been stuffed with cotton wool.

Hannah sighed “justice, that’s what’s going on. You figured it out just like I knew you would.”

“You…you killed Iverson.”

Hannah nodded, she didn’t seem proud of the fact but still, she didn’t try to deny it, it was almost as though she was apathetic towards the death of a man she had known most of her life. “I did, and he wasn’t the first. Mr Round, I thought he was just a friendly old man popping into the field whenever I was working to have a chat. Then one night he invited me round for dinner. I accepted thinking he was just being nice. Then he tried to push me onto his bed.” Hannah spat on the floor “ I guess I should be thankful for the war, all that land work made me strong. It was easy to push him off me, I just didn’t mean for it to be so hard that he fell and hit his head against the wall. I didn’t know what else to do other than bury him in one of the unused fields and pack a bag to leave on the next train out of here.”

Lana felt like her world was shattering as Hannah went on to explain how she got away with it.

“I was so scared the police were going to come and drag me away, but as time passed they never did. It was then that I realised that everyone believed he had just left town in the middle of the night, after all, you always hear about men doing just that. So when Mrs Jones admitted to me that her husband was beating her and her son I decided I could make him disappear as well.” Hannah picked up a shovel that had been resting against the wall.

“So many evil men are allowed to live normal wives because women are their silent victims, they are forced to be sweet and kind while their being destroyed by the men that claim ownership of them. Well no more.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Lana asked softly hoping for this all to be some kind of cruel joke. That her best friend will start laughing about how she managed to trick her.

“Because Lana, you can look into a person’s soul. You can figure things out like no one else can. Together we could rid this place of every black-hearted man and make a paradise. We could be so happy together, just the two of us forever.”

Lana began to cry “I love Hannah, god I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before. Your my soulmate but… This is wrong, Hannah you killed people. You could have just taken them to the police but instead you… you…”

Hannah used her thumb to wipe away her tears “ I thought you of all people would understand that some have to die to make the world better place.” she stepped away and placed the candle down on a bench and held the shovel in two hands.

“I really do love you, Lana, with all my heart and for as long as I live.”

Lana closed her eyes waiting for the blow that would kill her, she hoped it would be quick at least.

However, all that happened was the sound of a door opening then slamming shut again.

Lana was alone.

She started to scream.

Sobs wracked her body as she yelled and begged for all this to be some kind of horrible dream, that the person she trusts most in the entire world didn’t just admit to being a serial killer.

At some point it began to rain, the roof providing some shelter but Lana still got wet and the candle was snuffed out.

Had she just been left here to die?

As that thought entered her head the door flew open and a figure was backlit by a flash of lightning.

Lana couldn’t bring herself to care who it was or what they would do to her.

However when Keith ran over to her with a look of panic on his face a part of her calmed ever so slightly.

“Oh god Lana, we got a call saying you’ve been kidnapped and left here but I figured it was just some silly prank.” He pulled out a knife and cut her free catching her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

“Hannah.” Lana managed to gasp out.

“Was Hannah taken too?”

Lana shook her head “no, Hannah is the killer, she left me here and… if she called you then she’s not sticking around.”

She pushed herself away from Keith and kicked off her pretty shoes and began to run.

Lana ran like she had never ran before, through the muddy fields like the devil himself was chasing after wanting to pull her back down to hell again.

She tripped and she stumbled, she got scrapped by thorns as she forced her way through the narrow opening in hedges.

But she didn’t stop.

Not until she was at the station right as the train began to leave.

“Wait!” she screamed at the man in uniform. “Wait please you have to wait! There’s a killer on board.”

The man looked down his nose at her “I don’t take my orders from a hysterical woman.”

“But you do from the police” Keith breathed heavily flashing his bandage. Lana didn’t even realise he was following her.

The man quickly changed his tune and blew his whistle to stop the train.

Keith saw the passengers removed and the rest of the police were called in to help search and block and means of escape.

Lana was the first to find something. Hannah’s faded yellow bag amongst the rest of the luggage. She held onto it as the train was searched, every crevice every possible hiding place.

But they didn’t find a thing.

Lana realised they would as soon as she opened the bag and found a letter along with a single rose.

The letter simply said

‘My clever girl, just not clever enough this time - H’

It was sealed with a kiss and Lana held it close to her chest. In one night she lost her best friend and her soulmate.

But this time it wasn’t to the government but to her own decisions.

Lana didn’t return to her house again, Coran was kind enough to collect her things and drop her off at Red and Blues cottage. He said all of Hannah’s possessions were already gone and the little house that the two had dreamed of and worked so hard to get was sold and left empty.

Keith dropped by a few days later with the cart, they had been using it to uncover all the bodies that Hannah had buried over the last few years.

There were ten in total, all men that had somehow harmed the women in their lives.

No one mourned for them but the papers that used them to sell issues.

“I’m sorry about what happened.” Keith shifted awkwardly on the doorstep and Lana couldn’t really bring herself to let him in, it had been hard enough just getting out of bed to answer the door.

“I don’t get to keep many friends, I thought Hannah would be the one I would grow old with maybe become a spinster somewhere with.” Lana took in a quick breath to keep herself from crying again. “How did I never see that she was capable of doing such a thing, she killed a man while we lived under the same roof.”

Keith ran a hand through his hair “when it’s the people closest to you, you never see it until it’s too late.”

Lana hummed softly in response before she grabbed a red jacket from the side “I’m sorry, I washed it but I didn’t realise Red had left her bandana in there.”

Keith smiled softly as he took it and put it on “I like the colour anyway, I think it suits me.”

Lana nodded “yeah it does… so if there’s nothing else I have a pit to return to”.

She was about to close the door when Keith suddenly grabbed her hand “I think you should come work for the police. I… I mean we never even considered checking Iverson’s office we assumed his wife had a jealous lover or something. There something special about you Lana and I would hate for it to go to waste.”

“Well, I would hate spending my days as a secretary.’

“I didn’t mean as a security, I meant as a consultant. Coran said he will let me off probation if you agree to work with us, with me.”

Lana stared at him in disbelief “you want to be partners?”

Keith shrugged “I guess you could say it that way. Well?”

A coy smile appeared on Lana’s lips “I’ll think about it mullet.” she teased as she closed the door giggling softly at his annoyed protests.

Maybe she could through this.

All she had to do was keep busy, live one mystery to the next.

Maybe then she wouldn’t gain any new scars on her wrists.


End file.
